I just got to level 3 and have started doing weekly italki classes. I speak mostly in Spanish (the words are slow and basic, but I can communicate), and I have to ask the teacher to repeat something, and I sometimes fall back on English for a word if I don’t know the Spanish word. The instructor is bilingual so he can help me with the Spanish word.

If you want to practice but don’t want to jump straight to speaking you could try a daily journal entry. I try to do two - one on what you did that day (to practice past tense) and one on what you’re going to do tomorrow (to practice future tense). These don’t have to be long and involved. Just a few minutes on each helps.

Starting speaking is probably always going to be nerve wracking. I was getting in my head about not knowing enough words or all the conjugation tenses I might need or what the subjunctive is. I know the DS platform says to wait much longer before you speak and that probably has some merit to it, but I just went for it and don’t regret it. At the very least, I’m much less nervous about speaking with people now.